Blackhat

[onthewall2983]

Michael Mann's next film, coming out in January. Of particular interest here would be that Atticus Ross (along with Harry Gregson-Williams) is doing the score.

First stills emerge, along with some details from Mann himself about the plot.

[Millionaire]

I hope Mann ups his digital cinematography game for this one, or switches back to film. I haven't been a fan of the look of his last couple films.

[onthewall2983]

[Deadpool]

Blackhat looks a lot more action-oriented than what I've been imagining! Then again, it's easy to market Mann's movies as more action-heavy than they actually are. In any case, it's so great to have him back. This looks like it'll be worth the wait.

I was on a mini-Mann kick this summer and re-watched Miami Vice (director's cut, never seen theatrical) again recently and I think it finally "clicked" for me. Great movie. Not long after that, I noticed Manhunter popped up on Netflix, and I finally got to see that: there's some really good stuff in that movie, including what I would consider some of Mann's most surreal/stylized moments.

[thevoid99]

I really hope this is a redeemer for Michael Mann as I wasn't a fan of his last 2 films either. This does look promising.

[onthewall2983]

[onthewall2983]

[onthewall2983]

[onthewall2983]

So this has become quite timely now.

“We live in what we think is a compartmentalized world in which there is something called privacy,” Mann told Variety by phone, having just finished several marathon days of sound mixing and color timing. “A better analogy is that we’re living in a house where all the doors and windows are open and we’re in a very dangerous neighborhood, but we don’t know it.”

[onthewall2983]

[DigitalChaos]

I hope it's better than their promo material.


(hint: all of those examples take a few seconds to crack)

[Deadpool]

Anyone else see this? Judging by how much of a bomb it was in the states, I'm guessing not . Hopefully it makes up for it internationally (see: China)

I saw it tonight and really enjoyed it. A worthy entry in Mann's filmography if you ask me.
Mann remains unmatched when it comes to photographing urban environments at night, and staging LOUD, brutal, yet tactical firefights. Blackhat definitely has its share of eye-widening, hand-over-mouth, sit-up-in-your-seat moments and sequences - and despite popular opinion, I liked the love story and the unconventional "love triangle."

It was also nice to see a globe-spanning threat that wasn't purely handled by any one country, and instead featured positive, if questionable, cooperation between nations (not unlike Pacific Rim).

Hemsworth's character, Hathaway, is maybe unrealistically/overly macho, but I allowed myself to buy into the idea of a hacker who trains both his mind and body - and since this is a fictional story, I found that to be an interesting, enjoyable character wrinkle. If you're in prison, it's not entirely unbelievable to imagine spending much of that time beefing up. Thankfully, most of Hathaway's backstory is subtext, and there are definitely some nice echoes of James Caan's character in Thief.

*Shrug* If you're a Mann fan, I see no reason why you won't like this. It's thoroughly badass, and in true Mann fashion, ends on a tonally ambiguous note.

Oh, and the soundtrack was choice. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be much overt use of pre-existing songs (not that I noticed anyway), but what was there was very good. I know there were about 4 composers on the movie (including Atticus & Leo Ross!), but I'd like to know who wrote the ethereal, synth-y love theme. It gave off a bit of an anachronistic 80s vibe, but it worked. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the soundtrack will be released.

[thevoid99]

I'm going to see it this weekend as I've been asked to review it. I know it might not be anywhere that will live up to the standards of Mann's great work but I'll take a mediocre Mann film over everything else any day of the week.

[Hazekiah]

I always love Michael Mann's excellent cat-and-mouse dramas so I was really looking forward to seeing this. Unfortunately, it happened to be released right at the start of Manson's touring cycle supporting The Pale Emperor so I never got a chance to catch it in theaters, but now that the End Times tour is over I've been visiting my gf in New Hampshire for a while and catching up on some of the stuff I missed with the help of Netflix and Redbox.

I noticed Blackhat was available the other day and couldn't help myself! Plus, pretty much every girl in the world has a crush on Chris Hemsworth so I figured I could talk her into it, lol.

Anyway, it's a more than respectable entry in Mann's body of work. I had my doubts about Hemsworth convincingly portraying a computer nerd but they managed to deftly handwave that aside with the line about him using his time in prison to sharpen both his body and mind, so no problem there. Actually, the only real complaint I have about the film and the plausibility of the plot is in regards to the scene where he uses an S.U.V. to ram a parked freight truck through a concrete wall. WAT. In a movie that goes so far out of its way to establish its roots in the REAL world, ridiculousness like that just jumps right out and spoils the illusion a bit, sadly.

Still, it's just one moment of disbelief in a solid two hours of greatness so it was easily overlooked, I suppose. And if Mann hews a bit too close to over-the-top action movie conventions like that then the smart script and its willingness to drop about half the cast out of the blue like it did so effectively certainly goes a long way towards redeeming it.

Speaking of which, Thor teaming up with the Black Widow to track down the Chechnyan from The Dark Knight, w00t.

Can't go wrong there!

XD